Iran Is Going Mad With Anger Over Saudi Arabia's Annexation of Bahrain

If you listen really closely, you can almost hear the fists of the mullahs in Tehran right now pounding on tables out of red-faced anger in regards to how the Saudis slipped into Bahrain and in essence, made Bahrain a province of Saudi Arabia. The article hear at DEBKA even hints at the fact that Iran may take this whole thing to war with the Saudis.

It really is a fascinating article below - it's nice to see the Iranians get conned by someone else for once and it's even nicer to see them all lathered up and pissed off over it.

It does, however, raise an interesting scenario if the Iranians decided to move forces into Bahrain at this time - would the Saudis back down or not?

Here's the article.

Iran squares off against Saudi Arabia over Bahrain's annexation


The accord reached between Saudi King Abdullah and the Bahraini monarch Hamas bin Isa Al Khalifa for the oil island's virtual annexation by Riyadh has so incensed Tehran that armed Iranian-Saudi clashes with the potential for all-out warfare may soon become unavoidable, debkafile's Iranian and Gulf sources estimate. Shiite-ruled Iraq would back Tehran in the first Shiite-Sunni collision to be sparked by the wave of unrest sweeping the Arab world - in contrast to the domestic discord raging in Libya and Yemen.

In the third week of March, debkafile reveals, King Hamad agreed to hand over to Riyadh control Bahrain's defense, external, financial and domestic security affairs. The Saudi king's son Prince Mutaib was confirmed by the two monarchs as commander of the Saudi and GCC forces invited to enter the tiny kingdom to put down the Shiite-led uprising, and it was agreed that Saudi Arabia would soon start building a big naval base on the island opposite the Iranian coastline.
The accord between the Saudi and Bahraini monarchs appeared for the first time in DEBKA-Net-Weekly 487 on March 25. It revealed then that King Hamad had allowed his realm to become the de facto 14th province of Saudi Arabia in order to block the Shiite uprising against him and its knock-on impact on Saudi Arabia's two million restive Shiites next door.
Neither Riyadh nor Manama has made the pact public. The Bahraini province of Saudi Arabia will differ from the other 13 in that it will not be governed by a Saudi prince like the others but by a member of the Al Khalifa royal family who will enjoy equal royal privileges with his Saudi peers.
Our sources report that in closed meetings with senior Saudi princes, King Abdullah explained the fundamental importance of this step for the kingdom's national security. He reported that Iran and its Hizballah surrogate were actively stirring up Shiite opposition in Manama as the first step toward fomenting a Shiite uprising against the Saudi throne.

On March 21, Riyadh resolved to expand the terms of reference of the Saudi-Gulf military intervention requested by King Hamad. Instead of just safeguarding the royal palace and strategic facilities against rampaging protesters, our sources report, it was decided to expand the mission to guarding Bahrain's borders against external attack – i.e. Iran or Iraq.
To this end, Saudi troop reinforcements have been pouring into Bahrain from the last week of March, including armored units and a variety of missiles. debkafile's military sources estimate that some 11,000 Saudi and United Arab Emirates boots have hit the ground in Bahrain since then.

Four days later, on March 25, Manama announced that planes taking off from Iraq or Lebanon would not be permitted to land in the kingdom, thereby cutting of the main route used by Iran and Hizballah to bring over intelligence agents and military instructors to aid the Shiite opposition.
The second important military step afoot at present is the transfer of Saudi fleet units from the Gulf of Oman and Red Sea to the military section of Bahrain's port, where the US Fifth Fleet has its headquarters and berths its ships. This is a provisional facility, to serve the Saudis until they finish building a port at Manama for parking their main Persian Gulf naval and marine command center, in response to the expanded facilities on the opposite shore of Iranian Revolutionary Guards' naval and marine raider units.
March 31, the Iranian parliament's security and foreign affairs committee strongly condemned Saudi military steps: "Saudi Arabia knows better than any other country that playing with fire in the sensitive Persian Gulf region is not in their interests," said the statement.

Since then, Iranian media have not stopped denouncing Saudi actions in Bahrain, likening them to Saddam Hussein's 1990 conquest of Kuwait which triggered the first Gulf War against Iraq. Riyadh was even accused of accepting clandestine US and Israeli support.

Then, Saturday, April 2, Iraq's Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki chipped in by reviling US Middle East policy as discriminating among the popular movements in motion against the different Arab dictatorial regimes: "Whatever decision is made on Libya should be applied to any government that suppresses its people with iron and fire," he said.

Sunday, April 3, the threatening recriminations coming from Tehran and Baghdad prompted the Gulf Cooperation Council to hold a special foreign ministers' meeting. It passed a resolution which "severely condemned Iranian interference in the internal affairs of Bahrain in violation of international pacts."

Language this blunt has never before been heard from GCC leaders. It is attributed by our Gulf sources to Saudi King Abdullah's adamant resolve to challenge Tehran headon on every issue affecting the Gulf region's security, to the point of Saudi military intervention when called for – even at the risk of precipitating an armed clash between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The Islamic Republic finds itself confronted with its first forthright, no-nonsense challenge: If it backs down in the face of Saudi military activism, the Shiite communities across the region will conclude that Iran is both unable and unwilling to stand up for the Shiite-Arab revolt against Sunni regimes – whether in Bahrain, in other Gulf emirates or in Yemen and Lebanon.

Iraqi Prime Minister al Maliki faces the same quandary with regard to Iraqi Shiites who consider Bahraini coreligionists to be an integral part of their tribes and clans.
It is taken for granted by Saudi Arabia, Gulf capitals and Western military and intelligence observers that Tehran has been pushed into a corner from which it cannot afford to pull back from its overarching commitment to sponsor Bahrain's Shiites. The Iranians are therefore expected to send their Bahraini Shiite networks into terrorist action against Saudi military targets very soon. Riyadh is already braced for these assaults - and not just in Bahrain but in other GCC states including Saudi Arabia proper.
They will not go unanswered; hence the dire predictions among seasoned observers that armed hostilities between Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia may at some point become unavoidable.

Saudi Islamic Police Throw Two Indian Christians In Prison, Try Forcing Them To Convert To Islam

Ah yes, the wonderful tolerance and peace of Islam rears it's ugly head once more in the nation of Saudi Arabia. This report from Compass spells out the arrest and imprisonment of two Christians of Indian descent in Saudi Arabia - they were arrested in an apartment after a prayer meeting. The Saudi security officials threw them in prison without formal charges but have done their best to beat these two Christians into a conversion to Islam.

Wasn't it the Saudis that were one of the groups that insisted that America be tolerant of that Ground Zero Mosque in Manhattan?

Here's the full story.

Two Indian Christians Languish in Saudi Prison


LOS ANGELES, March 28 (CDN) — Friends and family of two Indian Christians arrested after a prayer meeting in Saudi Arabia in January have tried in vain to secure their release.

The two Christians were incarcerated for attending the prayer meeting with other Indian nationals and accused of converting Muslims to Christianity, though the government has not produced formal charges, sources said.

Yohan Nese, 31 and Vasantha Sekhar Vara, 28, were arrested on Jan. 21 when mutaween (religious police) raided an apartment where the two had lingered after attending the prayer meeting. Religious police interrogated and beat them to the point that they suffered injuries, according to sources. During this time, religious police who were cursing at them allegedly tore up and trampled on Bibles and Christian material they had confiscated, said a source who spoke to the men.

Authorities asked them how many Christian groups and pastors there are in Saudi Arabia and Riyadh and asked their nationalities. The religious police also put pressure on the two to convert to Islam, according to sources.

The next morning, Jan. 22, authorities took the two Christians to the Religious Court in Riyadh. The court sentenced them to 45 days in prison. At 2 p.m., police filed a case at the local civil police station, according to a source who requested anonymity.

To date the Christian Indians have been in prison for 67 days. Their family and friends say they still have not been able to obtain a document with official charges but know from the prisoners that the charges are religious in nature, according to the source. At the time of their detention, the Christians were not engaging in religious activities.

On Jan. 22, 15 mutaween in civilian clothes came back to the apartment they had raided the previous day, destroyed valuable items and wrote Islamic slogans on the walls with spray paint, the source said.

Nese and Vara’s situation in prison is “horrible,” said the source. The two men are cramped in a prison cell with only enough room to stand.

“There is no place to even sit,” said the source. “Only two hours a day they are sleeping in shifts. When brother Yohan is sleeping, brother Sekhar needs to stand, and when brother Sekhar wants to sleep, brother Yohan needs to stand. They have been doing this for more than a month. I don’t know how many more days they have to continue this.”

Since the arrest, other Christians have been too frightened to meet for prayer.

One week after his arrest, Vara was able to use a phone to call his family and pastor in India. His wife, Sandhya Vara, who is expecting their first child in three months, said she has not heard from him since.

“There were no Muslims in their prayer meeting, but they are accusing them of converting Muslims into Christians,” she told Compass by phone. “We got married eight months ago, but he’s very far from me now and he’s in very much trouble, and I’m six months pregnant.”

She and his pastor in India have communicated numerous times with the Indian embassy but have received no response.

“I have been complaining to the Indian embassy,” she said. “They cannot call me or give me any information. There is no help. So many times I informed them and they cannot give any reply and cannot take any action.”

Vara had worked in Saudi Arabia for more than seven years. Last summer he came to India and got married, returning on Jan. 9 to his post in Riyadh, where he worked as a supervisor for a catering company.

“Vasantha is from my church,” said his pastor in India, Ajay Kumar Jeldi. “He is very God-fearing, good, prayerful, supporting the pastor and working for the youth.”

The morning of his arrest, Vara called Pastor Jeldi and told him he planned to go to the evening prayer meeting in Riyadh. After the meeting, Vara, Nese and four other unidentified Christians lingered at the flat where the gathering had taken place. At around 7:30 p.m. two mutaween in plainclothes and one policeman in uniform raided the apartment.

On the phone with his pastor back in India, Vara said he was in prison for religious reasons and that he had been pressured to convert to Islam, but that he had refused.

“If I have to die for my God, I will die for him here,” he told Pastor Jeldi. “God will help me.”

The pastor said that in his sole conversation with him a week after his detention, Vara requested prayers for his release.

Typically in Saudi Arabia, a foreign worker’s documents remain with the employers who sponsor them in order for them to work in the country. Saudi employers are typically the only ones who can secure their employees’ release on bail.

“Only their sponsors can bring them out,” Pastor Jeldi said. “He has the right to bring him out, and no one else has the right to go and pay the bail or anything. Only the sponsor can have that responsibility.”

Since his arrest, Vara’s employer has handed his passport to local authorities and told them he is no longer responsible for him, according to the anonymous source.

“He doesn’t want him to work in his company anymore,” said the source.

The Saudi “religious police” or Commission to Promote Virtue and Prevent Vice (CPVPV) is a government entity that includes 5,000 field officers and 10,000 employees, along with hundreds of “unofficial” volunteers who take it upon themselves to carry out the CPVPV’s mandate, according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

“Despite the fact that the CPVPV is not allowed to engage in surveillance, detain individuals for more than 24 hours, arrest individuals without police accompaniment, or carry out any kind of punishment, its members have been accused in recent years of killing, beating, whipping, detaining, and otherwise harassing individuals,” the commission stated.

In the raid, authorities confiscated anything of value in the apartment, including two musical keyboards, a guitar, two sound boxes, a sound mixer, four microphones, music stands, power extension boxes, a laptop, mobile phone chargers and a whiteboard. They also confiscated 25 Bibles and other Christian materials, the source said.

The other Indian Christians at the apartment escaped.

The anonymous source said he has informed the Embassy of India in Riyadh of their arrest numerous times.

“I have lost hope in them,” he said, “because the only thing they are always saying is that this is a religious case, so we can’t do anything.”

Pastor Jeldi said he thought someone must have complained about the group of Christian Indians who were meeting regularly, causing authorities to act.

Nearly 7 million foreigners live and work in Saudi Arabia, of which an estimated 1.5 million are Indian nationals.

Human Rights Watch has reported that Saudi Arabia systematically discriminates against migrant workers and has called for the government to “abolish the sponsorship system for migrant workers, in particular the requirement for employer consent to transfer employment and to obtain an exit visa.”

According to the U.S. Department of State’s 2010 Report on International Religious Freedom, with rare exception, expatriate workers fear government interference with their private worship. The reasons for this interference can range from the worship service being too loud, having too many people in attendance or that it occurs too often in the same place, according to the report.

Riyadh was the stage for another raid and mass arrest of Christians in early October 2010. Arab News and other press reported the arrest of 12 Filipino Christians and a French Catholic priest celebrating mass in a private apartment. There were 150 Filipinos in attendance. The employers of the 12 Christian foreign workers secured their release, and the Philippine embassy negotiated their repatriation. The Catholic priest was also released within days.

“Saudi officials do not accept that for members of some religious groups, the practice of religion requires more than an individual or a small group worshipping in private, but includes the need for religious leaders to conduct services in community with others,” stated the State Department’s religious freedom report. “Foreign religious leaders continue to be prohibited from seeking and obtaining visas to enter Saudi Arabia and minister to local religious communities.”

Saudi Led Army Moves Into Bahrain

This is unprecedented as far as I can tell where the Saudi Arabian government has sent their military across the border (along with military members of some other Arab states) into the nation of Bahrain in order to assist the monarchy there fight the rebellion that has been underway for a number of weeks.

From the story at Breitbart:

A Saudi-led military force crossed into Bahrain Monday to prop up the monarchy against widening demonstrations that have sent waves of fear through Gulf states over the potential for enemy Iran to take new footholds on their doorsteps.

The Bahrain conflict is sectarian as much as pro-democracy, as the strategic Gulf island nation's majority Shiite Muslims see an opportunity to rid themselves of two centuries of rule by a Sunni monarchy.

But Gulf Sunni leaders worry that might give Shiite Iran a stepping stone to its arch-rival Saudi Arabia, connected to Bahrain by a wide causeway.

Instead, the Saudis and the other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council sent forces the other way, deploying about 1,000 troops by land and air and cementing the entire six-nation alliance to the fate of Bahrain's rulers, key U.S. allies as hosts of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.

The first cross-border offensive against one of the rebellions sweeping the Mideast was not greeted with celebrations.

Shortly after word of the foreign military reinforcements began to spread through the island nation, protesters blocked roads in the capital Manama. Thousands of others swarmed into Pearl Square, the symbolic center of the monthlong revolt.

Looking at the list of tiny Arab countries that make up this fighting force going into Bahrain, I would say it is safe to assume that 80% of the troops are Saudis.

And as you can tell above, the move isn't being received well by protesters and rebels in Bahrain. I wonder just what will happen when word gets out that a Saudi team of soldiers guns down a few Bahrain protesters in the streets?

Bahrain 'arena' for Gulf forces and wider fears


MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) - A Saudi-led military force crossed into Bahrain Monday to prop up the monarchy against widening demonstrations that have sent waves of fear through Gulf states over the potential for enemy Iran to take new footholds on their doorsteps.

The Bahrain conflict is sectarian as much as pro-democracy, as the strategic Gulf island nation's majority Shiite Muslims see an opportunity to rid themselves of two centuries of rule by a Sunni monarchy.

But Gulf Sunni leaders worry that might give Shiite Iran a stepping stone to its arch-rival Saudi Arabia, connected to Bahrain by a wide causeway.

Instead, the Saudis and the other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council sent forces the other way, deploying about 1,000 troops by land and air and cementing the entire six-nation alliance to the fate of Bahrain's rulers, key U.S. allies as hosts of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.

The first cross-border offensive against one of the rebellions sweeping the Mideast was not greeted with celebrations.

Shortly after word of the foreign military reinforcements began to spread through the island nation, protesters blocked roads in the capital Manama. Thousands of others swarmed into Pearl Square, the symbolic center of the monthlong revolt.

Shiite-led opposition groups denounced the Gulf military task force as an occupation that pushes the tiny island kingdom dangerously close to a state of "undeclared war."

"No to occupation," demonstrators cried in Manama's packed Pearl Square.

Gulf leaders see it completely differently.

The Sunni kings and sheiks fear any cracks in Bahrain's ruling system could threaten their own foundations. Protests are already flaring in Oman, Kuwait and even tightly ruled Saudi Arabia. The leaders also perceive political gains by Bahrain's Shiites as potential avenues of entry for Iran's Shiite regime—even though there are no apparent links between Tehran and Bahrain's Shiite opposition.

"The Gulf leaders have tried to legitimize this. They portray it not as intervention in an internal Bahrain dispute, but rather as an action against an external threat," said Sami Alfaraj, director of the Kuwait Center for Strategic Studies. "Bahrain is the arena for the worries about Iran."

In Tehran, authorities had no comment on the Gulf force moving into Bahrain. Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi called on Bahrain to avoid using "violence and force," according to the semiofficial Fars News Agency.

In Washington, White House spokesman Jay Carney pointedly did not call on the Saudi-led force to withdraw. Asked about that, he said, "We are calling on the countries in the region to show restraint, and pointing to the fact that the dialogue that can bring about political reform is essential for the stability of the countries in the region and their continued economic prosperity."

It's not clear when the tipping point arrived for Bahrain to seek outside help. The rulers have faced a month of nonstop unrest that has left seven people dead and the country drifting toward open sectarian conflict.

There have been scenes of defiance and disobedience so unsettling that pro-government parliament members appealed to Bahrain's king to impose martial law. On Sunday, protesters paralyzed Bahrain's finance district with roadblocks and then stood their ground—and in some cases pressed forward—against riot police firing tear gas in Pearl Square.

A statement on the state-run Bahrain News Agency said troops from the GCC's Peninsula Shield Force have been deployed "in line with the principle of common destiny bonding" the bloc, made up of Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

The statement said the reason for the mission was "the common responsibility of the GCC countries in maintaining security and stability. "

The Shield Force was created in the 1980s. Military units under a GCC command have been sent to Kuwait, including during the 1991 U.S.-led campaign to oust Saddam Hussein's force and in 2003 before the invasion of Iraq. The current action marks a significant shift to help a government quell internal unrest.

"It changes the role of the GCC actually," said Jane Kinninmont, a senior research fellow and Bahrain expert at the London-based think tank Chatham House. "They've always had their collective defense (pacts) ... The idea of gathering together to protect a government against its own people seems to be quite another thing."

The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have announced their forces were sent to Bahrain, but it was unclear about the contributions from the other states. By midday Monday, dozens of Saudi military vehicles were crossing over the causeway connecting the countries. The Gulf Daily News, which is close to Bahrain's rulers, said the Gulf forces would protect sites such as electricity stations and oil facilities.

Opposition leaders were outraged and—in an ominous sign for Bahrain's rulers—taking about resistance rather than possible dialogue.

"We consider that any military force or military equipment crossing the boundaries of Bahrain—from air, sea or land—an occupation and a conspiracy against the people of Bahrain ... and threatens them with an undeclared war by armed troops," said a statement from a coalition of seven main opposition groups.

For their part, Bahrain's leaders have expressed increasing frustration that opposition factions have not accepted offers to open a dialogue.

In a series of Twitter messages, Bahrain's prime minister, Sheik Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, lashed out at the Shiite-led protesters. "What we are witnessing in Manama is no peaceful protest," he wrote. "It's wanton, gangster style takeover of people's lives."

Shiites, who account for 70 percent of the population, have long complained of systematic discrimination by the Sunni dynasty.

The grievances include allegations of being blackballed from key government and security posts. They also strongly object to government policies that give citizenship and jobs to Sunnis from other Arab countries and South Asia as a way to offset the Shiites' demographic edge.

The main opposition groups have called for the Sunni rulers to give up most of their powers to the elected parliament. But as violence has deepened, many protesters now say they want to topple the entire royal family.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited Bahrain on Saturday and urged leaders to quickly move on reforms. On the same day, Bahrain's Interior Ministry said the sectarian strife was threatening the "social fabric" of the nation.

Last week, the GCC promised $10 billion in aid to both Bahrain and Oman, which also had faced protests calling for more jobs and a greater public voice in political affairs.

Elsewhere in the region, Yemen's president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, came under increasing pressure as workers and university staged strikes and more powerful tribal chiefs turned against his 32-year rule. On Sunday, Saleh fired a government minister for failing to persuade protesters to end their monthlong revolt.

___

John Bolton/Megyn Kelly on Saudi Protests, 1 Week Ago.

Stock Market Crashes as Saudi's Open Fire on Protesters.

CAIRO (AP / THE BLAZE) — Saudi police have opened fire at a rally in the kingdom’s east in an apparent escalation of efforts to stop planned protests. The protesters have called for a “Day of Rage” on Friday.
Government officials have warned they will take strong action if activists take to the streets after increasing calls for large protests around the oil-rich kingdom to press for democratic reforms.
A witness in the eastern city of Qatif says gunfire and stun grenades were fired at several hundred protesters marching in the city streets Thursday. The witness, speaking on condition of anonymity because he feared government reprisal, said police in the area opened fire. The witness saw at least one protester injured.

The World Holds Its Breath As Saudi Arabian Protesters Pick Today as "Day of Rage"

The voices of dissent in Saudi Arabia have decided to speed up their "Day of Rage" by beginning their demonstrations today, March 7th, in different portions of the country leading to a five day binge of protest that will culminate in a huge protest in Riyadh on Friday.

From the story at DEBKA:

As Libyan protests morphed into bloody civil war, Saud Arabia grabbed attention as the next focus of Arab disaffection after its opposition decided to bring forward its Day of Rage demos originally scheduled for Friday, March 11 to Monday, March 7. debkafile's sources reported exclusively that demonstrations against the Saudi throne are planned for Taif, Medina and Jeddah in the west, the towns of Assir and Najran in the south, which are traditional anti-monarchical centers and locales of the Ismaili communities close to the Shia brand of Islam, and the capital Riyadh.

This was the anti-royal protest leaders' response to the ban on demonstrations issued by the Saudi Interior Ministry this week. Sunday, the ban was backed by the Council of Senior Clerics which declared demonstrations violated Islamic law and signing reform petitions "violates what God ordered."

In rescheduling the protests, the organizers had two main goals:

1. To start a slow-burning fire on the western and southern fringes of the desert kingdom, ready in four days to burst into flames in Riyadh and rouse the masses exiting the mosques after Friday prayers into forming anti-government street processions.
2. To make the coming Riyadh demonstration strong enough to pull in the rest of the kingdom including the Shiites of the oil-producing Eastern Provinces, thereby realizing the royal house's most feared bugbear, collaboration between the mainstream opposition and the Shiites.
Last Tuesday, March 1, the BBC Arabic broadcast reported that the unrest in Saudi Arabia was growing. debkafile's sources in the Gulf say that immediately following the broadcast, Saudi security and intelligence forces raised their alert to the highest level.

This is not going to go well, I fear. I believe the Saudis have had ample time to prepare for these demonstrations and it is very clear that there is no "give" in their stance regarding these public protests. At the same time, I do have some doubts about the intensity of these demonstrations compared to Egypt, Libya and Tunisia - Saudi Arabia has always had a sense of order not seen in other Arab lands. But if a few embers are sparked in just the right spots along the way, this thing could blow up, big time.

A bit off topic, but if the Saudi protests really take hold...are you ready for $5/gallon gasoline?

Saudi Day of Rage put forward to Monday, stirring market concerns


As Libyan protests morphed into bloody civil war, Saud Arabia grabbed attention as the next focus of Arab disaffection after its opposition decided to bring forward its Day of Rage demos originally scheduled for Friday, March 11 to Monday, March 7. debkafile's sources reported exclusively that demonstrations against the Saudi throne are planned for Taif, Medina and Jeddah in the west, the towns of Assir and Najran in the south, which are traditional anti-monarchical centers and locales of the Ismaili communities close to the Shia brand of Islam, and the capital Riyadh.

This was the anti-royal protest leaders' response to the ban on demonstrations issued by the Saudi Interior Ministry this week. Sunday, the ban was backed by the Council of Senior Clerics which declared demonstrations violated Islamic law and signing reform petitions "violates what God ordered."

In rescheduling the protests, the organizers had two main goals:

1. To start a slow-burning fire on the western and southern fringes of the desert kingdom, ready in four days to burst into flames in Riyadh and rouse the masses exiting the mosques after Friday prayers into forming anti-government street processions.
2. To make the coming Riyadh demonstration strong enough to pull in the rest of the kingdom including the Shiites of the oil-producing Eastern Provinces, thereby realizing the royal house's most feared bugbear, collaboration between the mainstream opposition and the Shiites.
Last Tuesday, March 1, the BBC Arabic broadcast reported that the unrest in Saudi Arabia was growing. debkafile's sources in the Gulf say that immediately following the broadcast, Saudi security and intelligence forces raised their alert to the highest level. The reason: The Saudis perceived the broadcast as a coded call to Shiites and other opposition elements to launch riots for deposing 88-year-old King Abdullah. Panic selling up to 6.8 percent of stocks resulted on the Saudi exchange. One major trader explained that the unrest in the Arab world had led investors to shift from stocks to cash.

After the BBC broadcast, the authorities took the precaution of partially shutting down the relevant Web sites to cut down participation in the demonstrations.

Saudi Arabia has 2,300,000 registered Facebook users; Bahrain, about 220,000 and Oman 160,000.

These are impressive numbers which encompass large youthful populations, especially in Saudi Arabia, among whom unemployment runs at 30-40 percent. Still, it's hard to treat these figures as a barometer for forecasting the degree of willingness to rise up and challenge the government in Riyadh.

In Saudi Arabia, especially, family-clan-tribal ties are strong and may be capable of restraining youngsters exposed to Facebook from responding actively to calls to go out on the streets, although their demands and grievances are already serving the politicians with fodder.

Saudi Arabia has three categories of politicians: liberal elements; Muslim clerics in ideological opposition to the religious establishment and government; and the Shiite minority.

Their common cause is a demand for an end to the royal family's monopoly over policy-making – i.e., a limited process toward a constitutional monarchy and a share in power for ordinary citizens.
The disturbances in Bahrain began igniting the two million Saudi Shiites of the oil-rich Eastern provinces last month: On Feb. 17, Shiites staged their first protest demonstration in the Atif region calling for the release of Shiites held without trial since 2009. A number were released three days later.

Feb. 24, saw the second Shiite demonstration in Awwamiya, a small town near Qatif; and on Feb 28, the third was held, in solidarity with the Shiites of Bahrain in the main cities of the Qatif area, including the main city of Hasha.

The latter two rallies were restrained and small, in response to the authorities' pressure on Shiite leaders to hold down the first outward manifestations of a high level of ferment in the community.

Signs of ferment surfaced in other parts of Saudi Arabia too as liberal and religious opposition figures composed their demands in readiness of the Day of Anger.

On Feb. 26, a group calling itself Jeddah Youth for Change handed out flyers to passersby in the Red Sea port city calling on them to participate in the Day of Anger demonstrations.

Prominent Saudi expats in London also took a hand.
Articles supporting the dissidents' demand for political reforms were published by two Saudi historians, Madawi al-Rasheed, a Kings College professor and scion of the Rasheed family that ruled the Najd region of Saudi Arabia prior to the Ibn Saud conquests; and May al-Yamani, daughter of the former oil minister, Mohammed Zaki al-Yamani.

The unusual level of anti-monarchical activism in the West convinced the Saudi royal family that an outside move against the throne in Riyadh is afoot, akin to the maneuver that terminated the Hosni Mubarak's presidency in Egypt and which is currently directed against Libyan ruler Muammar Qaddafi.